Belated
by The 21st Century Pendragon
Summary: Lincoln's sisters forget about Siblings Day. And that is just the tip of the iceberg for Lincoln's week, a bad week for him and his family. How would the ever-optimistic Lincoln Loud deal with a series of unfortunate events?


A stressful day has never been a part of Lincoln's daily routine. But for this entire week, it has been stressful for the boy who has yet to experience real, grueling stress. Just for a bushed day, Lincoln enters the house, drops his bag and plummets himself to the couch. No one is in the living room premises since his parents are out for their own jobs, and his siblings are in their respective errands for the day. That gives him room to bury his head completely to the soft cushions of the furniture to rid off his stress and worries.

He then opens up to the readers, as he usually does, "You must be wondering, 'Why the long face, Lincoln?' or 'Why the ever optimistic Lincoln Loud looks disappointed at the end of this week with this face?' or 'What happened to Lincoln's usual afterschool routine of taking off his pants to read comics with a smile on his face?' Well, you may ask any of those stuff because this was really a tough week to sit through for a kid. Let me take you a day in the life of Lincoln Loud for Week #571."

* * *

Upon saying that, Lincoln goes through the happenings of his week with flashbacks:

"Day 1: April 10. On this unusual day to start the week, it was supposed to be a great day. As you see, every April 10 is declared as 'National Siblings Day'. I was excited every year because me and my sisters would go do our silliest or our most outrageous sibling photo we could pull off. Last year, we went to a public water aquarium where we took our photo with ornamental fish, but we accidentally ended up in the shark pond. We…to say the least…were able to fend off the sharks by striking on their weakness – punching them on those, thanks to Lisa. It was fun. What happened to this year?"

 _After school, Lincoln gets home in full anticipation on what their next gimmick for their annual Siblings Day photo will be. He even screams out loud, "Alright guys! Lincoln's in the house! Let's get this party started tonight!" However, no one responds. He repeats, "Let's get this party started tonight!" And still no one responds. "Hmmm odd. Somebody should be shouting along with me in this type of day."_

 _Lincoln then decides to climb upstairs and check out what his sisters have been doing. "Guys, where are you? Guys?" He checks first Lori and Leni's bedroom to see that their door was surprisingly open but the sisters themselves are not present in the room. He then checks out Luna and Luan's room to see the same results. Finally, he gets to Lynn and Lucy's room, where he sees Luna, Luan, Lynn and Lucy studying earnestly, a rarity in the Loud household._

" _What's going on here?" Lincoln asks._

 _Lynn then shushes him. "Quiet Lincoln! We're trying to focus here on studying here."_

" _I know that. But what's the studying for?"_

" _Tests up for tomorrow bro," Luna answers._

" _Oh. That's a first."_

" _Well, they don't call it surprise test for nothing," Luan justifies._

" _So, nobody is up for…?"_

 _But before he continues, Lucy interrupts, "Apologies Lincoln. It will be this or have our souls get haunted for eternity. I rather not withhold my soul because of a test."_

 _With that statement, Lincoln becomes upset. But he still keeps his hopes high when he proceeds to Lola and Lana's room. However, his attention is turned to Lisa and Lily's room, where he sees Lisa intensely tutoring Leni, Lana and Lola with flash cards._

" _6 x 6 is…," Lisa asks Leni._

" _34\. I meant 36," Leni answers hesitantly._

" _Need work on your mental math response," Lisa says._

" _You guys have a test too?" Lincoln asks as he barges in their room._

" _Lincoln! What you're doing here?!" the four sisters shout aloud._

" _We're trying to concentrate here," Lola berates, "What's up with the hustle?"_

" _Nothing. I just thought that since it's the time of the year, and…" Lincoln points out._

 _But Lisa pushes him away, "Well, time's a-wasting, dear brethren. Your unanticipated entrance hinders for the hippocampus to store memory and for the neuron system to process them."_

" _Yeah, that's what she said. Sorry Link, but we need to concentrate," Lana defends._

" _Yeah, we hate to fail down the stairs," Leni follows._

" _My point exactly," Lisa asserts, pointing out Leni's word usage error. "Sorry Lincoln."_

 _With that, the unfortunate 11-year-old walks out of their room unceremoniously. Suddenly, a hasty Lori dashes from the staircase and rushes to Lisa's room to retrieve her chemistry book._

" _Sorry Lincoln, excuse me," Lori says, passing by Lincoln._

" _Lori, you too have to study?" Lincoln asks._

" _Recitation's tomorrow, and I don't want to blow it," Lori explains while on a rush, "Tell mom and dad I'll just be at Dana's house for study. They're at the hospital for Lily's checkup. This is literally important. See ya!"_

" _Lori wait! But…" Lincoln tries to stop her, to no avail, "…our annual sibling photo."_

 _But Lori just dashes to Bobby, who is waiting for her outside on his motorcycle. And Lincoln watches hopelessly from the window. He then realizes how much his day ended in distraught, just by his siblings' hefty schedules and ignorance to one of their most cherished traditions._

"That day on, I finally put into mind that some things will not go by my way. But I am hopeful that tomorrow won't be the same thing right?" Lincoln then sports a frown to imply his feelings.

* * *

"Day 2: April 11. I was hoping for the day to turn out well. Me and Clyde are about to present our report about Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's bitter rivalry. But suddenly the bell rang, signaling a fire alarm. We abandoned all our stuff, including our hard-earned projects. As we gathered in the field, only then we learned on the entire afternoon of waiting that the fire alarm was bogus. Someone had the audacity to intentionally set the alarm and activate the sprinkler system. We didn't know who was responsible for the fire alarm prank. But what is clear was that our project got ruined from the sprinklers set off. As always, a major bummer until the end of the day."

 _After school, Lincoln and Clyde stroll back home, but Lincoln has a more disappointed attitude that he drags with along the way._

" _It's okay Lincoln. We can redo the report. Maybe we'll not settle on the visual aids and those paper mache figurines that we took a month to do. But look at the bright side, buddy…" Clyde tries his best to sway Lincoln, to no avail._

" _What's the bright side of it, Clyde? Our hard works ruined. Don't you even get the feeling of your hard work ending up wasted?" Lincoln argues._

" _Relax buddy. That's just one misfortune. Everyone faces that," the optimistic Clyde keeps his hopes high, "And besides, what could probably go worse than our project soaked?"_

 _Badly timed enough, the sky proceeds to darken as dark clouds hover over the bright skies and send out rain to Royal Woods, making Lincoln and Clyde soaked in rain._

" _You were saying?" Lincoln implies._

" _Let's just call this a day," Clyde sighs._

 _After that, the two part ways. As Lincoln enters the Loud house, he sees his siblings trying to fend off their usual homegrown raccoons that have now been infected from Lisa's prototype for skin care. Seeing another catastrophe that derails much of family bonding, Lincoln hopelessly walks to his room to dry himself from the rain. But he gets mauled off by another horde of raccoons who are infesting his room._

* * *

"Day 3: April 12. The night before's raccoon infestation was just the beginning. Once I got home at sunset from an awful day which consists of stricter hall monitors, a one-menu lunch of tofu and gym class having a surprise practical exam, it only got worse. The sanitary department has the whole house under quarantine, and have it 100% under sanitization. So, for worse, we were forced to live on dad's rented RV. Well, at least there's a silver lining in this situation, right?" Lincoln then frowns, foreshadowing what had come.

 _As Lincoln is appalled to see the house under quarantine, supervised with the government officials in hazmat suits, Lynn Sr. calls him from across the street, where the family has settled temporarily on a rented trailer with a campfire, "Lincoln, over here!"_

" _Dad, mom, guys, what happened to the house?" Lincoln asks._

" _Well, yesterday's raccoon invasion got off hand, and the environmental guys labeled our house unsafe, so we decided to await for the guys to fix situation and settle right here," the Loud matriarch Rita explains._

 _But Lola points more fingers. "Yeah, thanks to Lisa here!"_

" _Lola, what we've talked about?" Rita chastises her, making Lola the more upset. "Lisa got the punishment that she needs. We don't need to throw more at her."_

" _Fine, but it is still her fault," Lola reiterates._

" _One more accusation and I will send you to cryogenic sleep in this capsule gun," Lisa warns her._

" _Oohh, I wanna see that," Lana gleefully says._

" _Now, you two, stop that," Lynn Sr. stops them. "We already settle on this. We are family. We are not taking a blame on each other, even a fault as grave as destructing our house."_

" _Your mom is right, guys. Let's all look at the bright side," Lynn Sr. motivates them, also additionally pointing to their setup campfire to prove his point._

" _Such a bright insight, dad. That got me on fire. Hehe. Get it?" Luan interrupts, much to the annoyance of the rest._

" _Well, let's get our hopes high. And who knows? Something good might happen to us," Lynn Sr. encourages the family, "Speaking of which, Luna, ukulele please."_

" _Sure thing, pop," Luna utters, and then throws the string instrument to her dad._

 _With the minimalist, recreational guitar on his hand, Lynn Sr. begins to play_ _"_ _My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)_ _" by Fall Out Boy. Lynn and Leni jam along the way, though the former slows down when she senses her dad going overboard with the singing._

" _Uhmm dad, I think we can just tone down the jamming down," Lynn insists, and then holts Leni from singing."_

" _Nonsense honey, I'm just getting started. Now, I'm on fire!" As predicted, Lynn Sr. gets wild by swinging the ukulele to the campfire, accidentally hitting one piece of firewood towards the engine of the RV._

" _Dad!" the Loud siblings shout to their father._

" _Calm down, kids. At least, the camper didn't explode," Lynn Sr. says when the predictable ironically occurs when the interior implodes. This leaves for the Louds homeless for one night._

" _Dad, our bags are literally in there!" Lori chastises her father, leaving him in embarrassment._

" _Well, at least I have Edwin by my side, as the inferno rolls right before my eyes," Lucy poetically utters._

" _You sure have to improvise at this time," Lincoln comments._

" _Exactly," Lucy replies._

 _The Louds then just hopelessly watch their nightly camper crumble in fire. Though they equally share the distraught, it is Lynn Sr. that faces the hardest toll._

* * *

"Day 4: April 13. This is something different from what I normally see. After another mediocre day, which is at least not a bad day, I got home still seeing the house under quarantine, but my dad sitting by the sidewalk alone. I never saw him like that before. So I approached him. Never would I thought that I would actually have a heart-to-heart talk with him."

 _After seeing his father burying his face on his arms while seated on the sidewalk, Lincoln approaches. "Dad, are you okay?"_

 _Lynn Sr. hears his son's words and immediately responds to him after wiping a sudden moist from his eye. "Oh Lincoln, you're back early."_

" _What are you doing sitting by the ground?" Lincoln asks, "And where are my sisters?"_

" _Oh, uhmm they need a place to study, so your mom has to take them to your Aunt Lovely's place to stay for the night," Lynn Sr. explains. "We both agreed this, as a punishment from last night. Lots of papers to take care off. But don't worry, we're still good. And you and I are going to stay in Mr. Grouse's place."_

 _At that right moment, Mr. Grouse appears from his window and clarifies to the two, "I only did this because I love seeing your house getting infested by orange astronauts from the 80's! Clearly, it is a delight of your eyesore of a house to be condemned."_

 _After Mr. Grouse returns to his usual business, Lynn Sr. turns his attention to his son. "Sorry about this Lincoln. I know it's hard with the happenings and all. But let me make it up to you. Dinner brunch?"_

 _With that, Lynn Sr. takes Lincoln to an all-day breakfast diner where Lincoln had a combo of scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon and ham, with additional toasted bread. However, the 11-year-old notices his father not eating for dinner._

" _Dad, aren't you gonna eat?" Lincoln asks._

" _It's okay son. Need papers to keep up with our house…and RV…and others," Lynn Sr. answers._

 _But being a charitable boy, Lincoln lends him the toast. "Here dad."_

" _No, it's okay son. Help yourself," the Loud patriarch insists._

" _No dad, you need to eat. Here." Lincoln then slides the bread placed on a saucer to his father._

" _Thanks boy." In response, Lynn Sr. kisses his forehead. "Sorry I have to put you in my situation."_

" _It's okay dad. I know what you're going through. And I forgive you."_

" _That's so grateful of you that you understand. You know, it's kind of amazing that you did. Or else, how would I be able to explain this to you? It's hard. So as life. But that's what you get: hard life equals living. It's hard to swallow. But they are not gonna last long. What matters is how much we persevere to get through all those obstacles. Listen Lincoln, if you think your life just ends with bad days, you are clearly not using your imagination."_

" _But what about you dad? If you believe in those stuff, how come I see you hopeless?"_

" _That's part of the show. It's okay to be hopeless. It is wrong to stay one. Like now, because of this toast you gave me, I am now hopeful because I see my son, still caring even at this time. Remember that Lincoln. It will be hard, but you can and you will overcome problems. Trust me. I know." After that pep talk, the two continue on with their businesses._

"From that time, it became clear that things would not always follow the list. Life is not written in a list; it is glanced through like a list. It will be hard to fulfill. But in the end, we can assure that things have been achieved. Or at least for some believers.

* * *

"And finally, day 5: April 14. I expect nothing for a day that started off with a breakfast consisting of smoked eggplant and fish paste. I wasn't able to see Clyde for the day, since he had been busy in a sudden extracurricular program. Lucky for me, the house was cleared off when I arrived. Though, I don't know if it is that lucky."

With that, Lincoln finally finishes his flashback. "And that is how I end up here. Well, at least I learned the hardest lesson: life never goes your way. You just need to make the best of it." He then drags his body away from the couch and climbs to his room.

As he is about to enter, Lincoln is suddenly greeted by the roaring cheers from his sisters. "Hey Lincoln! Belated Siblings Day to you!"

"Guys, you remembered!" Lincoln replies exhilaratingly.

"We literally realized that Siblings Day was last Monday," Lori explains, "So we thought of doing it now than never."

"Sorry we weren't able to celebrate it with you, bro," Luna says.

"Yeah, if it weren't for that test, we would have actually a great time," Lynn adds.

"But since life is harshly unfair…" Lucy states.

"Too harsh," Lana follows it up, "We decided to celebrate it today."

"Yeah, I mean it's better than just moping about how I broke my tiara on my gym class test," Lola implies.

"Or just moping the floors," Leni adds.

"You mean moping on the floor? Hehehe," Luan comments.

"Yeah, that too," Leni quickly says.

Lisa then approaches Lincoln while carrying Lily. "Someone misses you."

Lily then embraces Lincoln's face as an expression for her childlike love for her big brother. He then carries her by his arms. "Thanks Lily." Lily then explicably kisses him by the right cheek. "Anyway, why are we celebrating here in my room?"

"Because this!" Lola exclaims and pulls out a pillow, signaling a pillow fight for the siblings. And just like that, the Loud children engage in a grand pillow fight. Feathers float around. Sheets get ripped. And each Loud kid gets smacked by a fluffy pillow.

As the siblings are at the moment, Lori takes advantage of this and takes a selfie of them, thus becomes their annual Siblings Day photo. Now this will land on Lincoln's pantheon of greatest family moments.


End file.
